Beautifying Houston's Beaches (Galveston: 2015, casinos, law)

[texas7]

Galveston is what it is. It's nature. Sometime you just have to accept nature without tryin to change it to what we wish it would be.

[locotl]

Has anyone been to Galveston when its about to rain?
I don't know if its the wind/light combination but the water gets a lot clearer and looks really nice.

[DJboutit]

Beach Galveston - YouTube

I caught the water really nice color

[DanielWayne]

The color of the water is only a big deal if you let it be a big deal. I'd bet a lot of people on here played in tea-colored or sediment filled water before without giving it a second thought. Some of you probably willingly jumped into drainage ditches or retention ponds and lived to tell about it. I cringe to use 'literally' but we literally live right next to the edge of civilization. That's kind of neat.

Now the thing that DOES need addressing is the bums and street urchins that can pop up at anytime and ruin a pleasant evening on the island. Also parts of the island have an astounding propensity for crime. The beach is what it is. The color of the water doesn't define what Galveston could potentially be, or what it was before a lot of us were born. I'd wager the murky water was around when the Balinese and all that stuff was in it's heyday.

[Chris V]

Originally Posted by texas7

Galveston is what it is. It's nature. Sometime you just have to accept nature without tryin to change it to what we wish it would be.

Yes it s all nature. I ll take it. I appreciate it being an hour drive to dip in, sit in the sand, feel the breeze or salt water flishing. I still go every month sometimes twice.

It's seaweed, it comes and go. This year just happen to be more.

It sure beat not having access to a beach. Yeah it's not as nice as Florida. But florida is not an hour away.
Yeah it's not as nice or popular as Southern California. If you don't live in California., you wouldn't know. There water is cold, it's not enjoyable.

I ll take Galveston beach

[Yn0hTnA]

Originally Posted by ShannonE

That would be wonderful if Galveston beaches could look cleaner. I can't always help but feel like our area is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to beaches. Silty gross looking water thanks to the Mississippi River AND we just happen to also get all the nasty seaweed too. (Yes, yes, I know the seaweed is an important ecosystem and all that, but it stinks and it feels gross when you are in the ocean and it is constantly brushing against your legs.)

Galveston may not be the "ideal beach" but I don't think it gets the short end of the stick; lots of beaches in the US, and the world are as bad, if not worse, with the silt, when compared to Galveston. Seaweed washes up on every single beach on the planet, nothing unique to Galveston.

Nevertheless, I do see potential in Galveston as a great subtropical resort, and what better way to appeal to visitors than to take care of the threat of that wretched murky water. As I've showed earlier, the city of Shanghai in China took care of their murky beaches by installing filter systems that then made their beaches blue.

Originally Posted by texas7

Galveston is what it is. It's nature. Sometime you just have to accept nature without tryin to change it to what we wish it would be.

This kind of thought process is useful in some aspects of this general topic of improving Galveston's beaches, especially with the seaweed; leaving the seaweed on the beach, in spite of people's discomfort, is actually beneficial; it is essentially a free supply of material for which mighty sand dunes that once existed on Galveston Island can once again, build themselves up again.

One ironic thing about the natural viewpoint (i.e. "This is nature, it can't be changed") is that the murkiness of Galveston's water may not even be natural at all if one considers that the Mississippi River isn't even emptying into the Gulf properly. As discussed earlier in this thread, there is a river control structure that essentially straight-jackets the river to empty mainly in one area. As a result, the sediment from the river that could be building up the wetlands of Louisiana(that are eroding significantly by the way) instead is wasted out in the Gulf, where, due to near-shore currents, it is then dragged to Galveston to wreak havoc in people's perceptions of the island.

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

The color of the water is only a big deal if you let it be a big deal. I'd bet a lot of people on here played in tea-colored or sediment filled water before without giving it a second thought. Some of you probably willingly jumped into drainage ditches or retention ponds and lived to tell about it. I cringe to use 'literally' but we literally live right next to the edge of civilization. That's kind of neat.

Now the thing that DOES need addressing is the bums and street urchins that can pop up at anytime and ruin a pleasant evening on the island. Also parts of the island have an astounding propensity for crime. The beach is what it is. The color of the water doesn't define what Galveston could potentially be, or what it was before a lot of us were born. I'd wager the murky water was around when the Balinese and all that stuff was in it's heyday.

The history of the island is very unique and interesting, from being a pirate hideout to being "the Wall Street of the South;" the Free State of Galveston Era was especially interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_of_Galveston

One curious thing, though, is that I never see any mention of "murky water" and the associated opinions of it appearing in many of these historic accounts of Galveston, not from Jean Lafitte, nor from the Moody Family or the Maceo Bros.

The cultural experience of the island is also great, and combined with the history, the architecture, and the establishments (Pleasure Pier, Moody Gardens, etc), Galveston is easily one of the more interesting towns of Texas. If only the beaches were as good as those in say, South Padre, then Galveston, imho, would easily outclass many beach destinations in the country. My many visits to the Texas coastline has filled me with lots of hope and optimism about Galveston, and I'm sure lots can be done to improve it, whether it is taking care of the bums, or finding innovative ways to clear the water.

Originally Posted by Chris V

Yes it s all nature. I ll take it. I appreciate it being an hour drive to dip in, sit in the sand, feel the breeze or salt water flishing. I still go every month sometimes twice.

It's seaweed, it comes and go. This year just happen to be more.

It sure beat not having access to a beach. Yeah it's not as nice as Florida. But florida is not an hour away.
Yeah it's not as nice or popular as Southern California. If you don't live in California., you wouldn't know. There water is cold, it's not enjoyable.

I ll take Galveston beach

All true, in its present state, Galveston does indeed have its pluses, and they far outweigh the negatives in my opinion. This thread though is simply a fruit of the optimism I have about Galveston; As awesome as I think it is it, it can be even more awesome. Just like the way an honor student would shoot for the 100 rather than settle for the 90.

Anyways, with that aside, if innovation and alterations to nature is what it takes to make blue the permanent color of Galveston's water, then I'm all for it. When you can make these:
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/0BXGh0EYJtE/maxresdefault.jpg
http://blog.luxuryproperty.com/wp-co...ands-Dubai.jpg
Anything is possible.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

The color of the water is only a big deal if you let it be a big deal. I'd bet a lot of people on here played in tea-colored or sediment filled water before without giving it a second thought. Some of you probably willingly jumped into drainage ditches or retention ponds and lived to tell about it. I cringe to use 'literally' but we literally live right next to the edge of civilization. That's kind of neat

A friend and I took his boat from south of the Lake Houston dam down the lower San Jac, into the ship channel, past the turning basin, into Buffalo Bayou and up to Allen Parkway and Shepherd. (This was pre-911). Heading back, and while on Buffalo Bayou, we sucked up a big piece of debris into the intake. I had to swim under the boat to remove it. We stopped by the Battleship Texas to add fuel to the boat. We had a couple of cans. When we left, we sucked up a big empty ice bag. So I had to go into the ship channel. No third arm has yet to sprout. Knock on wood.

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

The color of the water doesn't define what Galveston could potentially be, or what it was before a lot of us were born. I'd wager the murky water was around when the Balinese and all that stuff was in it's heyday.

Well said.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Yn0hTnA

When I said "Houston," I was referring to it in the form of its metropolitan area (Greater Houston), which does indeed include coastal areas with beaches like Galveston, and the Bolivar Peninsula.



That's a true point. I'm sure the beaches around the mouths of the Amazon and Nile Rivers are going to be full of silt.



Its good to hear about Galveston Bay. The Metro is stepping in the right direction by improving its environment. The beachfront of the bay is seeing restoration one beach cell at a time, starting with the come back of Sylvan Beach.

When I explored the Bay Area of Houston, I was stunned by the huge amounts and varieties of trees covering the landscapes, from oaks, to oleanders to palms. The greenery of Houston never ceases to amaze me; before I started exploring the city, people would always tell me that it was ugly, but when I arrived, I just couldn't see how the city was ugly.

These are the beaches on the Mediterranean just west of the Nile River in Alexandria Egypt:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I0hV4-6hSG...0/IMG_3105.JPG

The beaches in Egypt are famous for scuba diving. Not sure why there's not much silt coming from the Nile River, but I do know their delta is more healthy than the MS delta.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Yn0hTnA

No, there needs to be a way to pull out all the silt from the Gulf around Houston.

Hope you are expecting the Texas government to do that with tax money
Even though they already remove seaweed with our tax dollars

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

The color of the water is only a big deal if you let it be a big deal. I'd bet a lot of people on here played in tea-colored or sediment filled water before without giving it a second thought. Some of you probably willingly jumped into drainage ditches or retention ponds and lived to tell about it. I cringe to use 'literally' but we literally live right next to the edge of civilization. That's kind of neat.

Now the thing that DOES need addressing is the bums and street urchins that can pop up at anytime and ruin a pleasant evening on the island. Also parts of the island have an astounding propensity for crime. The beach is what it is. The color of the water doesn't define what Galveston could potentially be, or what it was before a lot of us were born. I'd wager the murky water was around when the Balinese and all that stuff was in it's heyday.

As long as there has been the Mighty Mississippi River, Galveston has had water with a dark to light brown color to it depending on the currents & amount of seaweed present & other weather conditions. It was probably a lot clearer before the Houston Ship Channel was dredged & Lake Houston were built too. That royally screwed up water quality for Galveston.

The further south on the Texas coast you go the clearer the water is because you're that much further away from the mouth of the Mississippi.